Ohio · Updated August 28, 2026

Why is my AES Ohio bill so high?

Verified August 28, 2026. Source: The Dayton Power and Light Company tariff P.U.C.O. No. 17, Secondary distribution sheet D19, and the published standard offer rate. Reviewed at the start of each month.

The short version

Your bill has two halves, and for a Dayton business the half you cannot change is unusually large.

AES Ohio, formerly Dayton Power & Light, is your utility. It delivers your power and sends your bill whoever supplies you. The generation half is open to competition; the demand charge is not.

The supply rate, and how long it holds

One thing works in your favour here: the AES rate is fixed for a full year, through May 31, 2027. Duke and Ohio Edison reset theirs every June, so a Dayton business has a stable benchmark to shop against for longer than most of the state.

What the gap costs a small business

These cover the supply portion only, using the lowest advertised competitive rate. They exclude the demand charge, which is the next section and often the larger surprise.

Every AES business pays a demand charge

This is where AES differs from the rest of Ohio. AEP Ohio has Schedule GS-1 for businesses under 10 kW, which bills energy only. AES has no equivalent — the Secondary tariff covers every non-residential customer and bills demand from the first kilowatt.

Billing demand is the greatest 30-minute integrated demand of the month. If your restaurant peaks at 40 kW on one busy Saturday, that single half-hour sets a charge of about $191 for the whole month — whether the rest of the month was quiet or not.

The rule most Dayton owners don't know about

AES bills off-peak peaks at 75% of their measured value, and on-peak peaks at 100%. Off-peak runs 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., all day Saturday and Sunday, and on six observed holidays. Moving a heavy load — prep cooking, laundry, a compressor cycle — outside the on-peak window means that peak is billed at three-quarters of its size.

That is a lever no supplier switch gives you, and it is written into the tariff rather than being a program you have to sign up for. For a business with flexible heavy loads, it is often worth more than the supply gap.

Three other reasons your bill jumped

1. You rolled off a fixed contract

Fixed-rate supply contracts expire quietly. When yours does, you usually drop to a variable rate or back to the default — often at a much higher price, with no notice that reads like a warning.

2. A variable-rate supplier repriced you

Introductory rates that beat the utility in month one frequently exceed it by month six. If a supplier name appears on your bill and the rate moves every month, that is what is happening.

3. A one-off peak you have forgotten about

Because demand is billed on a single 30-minute window, an unusual afternoon three weeks ago can be the reason this bill looks wrong. Check the kW line against previous months before assuming the rate changed.

When switching is the wrong move

If you are already on a fixed contract below 10.85¢, stay put — early termination fees usually run $50 to $200. If your contract ends within 60 days, wait and switch at renewal. And if your bill rose because of the demand charge, switching suppliers will not help at all: that charge is distribution, set by AES, and the fix is operational rather than contractual.

How to check your own bill in five minutes

1. 1.Find your billing demand in kW — every AES business bill has one, and it is often the line people skip
2. 2.Multiply it by $4.7725904 to see what the demand charge alone costs you this month
3. 3.Find your supply rate in cents per kWh. If it reads 10.85¢, you are on the default and have never switched
4. 4.Check whether a supplier name appears. If one does, find the contract end date before doing anything

Then compare supply offers on Apples to Apples, the free comparison tool run by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. It lists every certified supplier licensed in your territory beside the utility's own rate.

Most private rate-comparison sites are paid by the suppliers they list, so the order you see is often the order of who pays most rather than who is cheapest for your usage. The PUCO tool is the neutral one — it is run by the state regulator and has nothing to sell you.